War?

Things seem to be escalating pretty rapidly this past week since the shelling of Yeoungdeopo Island by North Korea. Both sides have once again begun the war rhetoric threatening "enormous retaliation" if either side provokes the other. There have been incidents before with North Korea like the sinking of the Cheonan Submarine and the shooting of a S.Korean tourist in N.Korea and nothing really happened. This time though it feels a little different, if the North or South were to commit one more provocative action, it feels like it would be the third strike that would set the stage for an all out war.

The US and South Korea are set to stage some kind of military drills this Sunday near Yeoudeungpo Island, the same site North Korea attacked earlier this week. It seems stupid to me to hold those kind of drills so soon after the latest incident. I know North Korea has to be held in check but the South has everything to lose and there must be a better way to resolve this situation than to hold these drills with what seems to be the North's real enemy, the United States.

I don't know what I would do the in event of war breaking out. Seoul would definitely be the first target and I'm pretty sure that I would be in the line of fire. I would forget about trying to get out of Seoul as Im sure the traffic would be much worse than getting out of Seoul for Chuseok (Chuseok - 1hr drive turns into a 6hr drive). I think I would probably head for the emart (emart=korean walmart) near my apartment. Its in the second basement level of a Technomart. I figure id be safe there and I would have everything I need. I really hope cooler heads prevail and nothing happens.

In lighter news, I joined a gym today near my apartment. Its a pretty small one but its really cheap, no down payment, 20,000 Won (18$ cdn) a month. Its smells like my grandma in there (gym is full of old people) but its cool, it close by and inexpensive. I lost a bit of weight while backpacking this summer (thanks India!). Im 176 lbs down from 192 lbs pretrip but I'm still pretty fat by Korean standards. Hoping to drop down to 165 lbs in the next couple of months but I think the bigger goal is trying to stick to at least 3-4 days a week in the gym!

The only christmas picture I had

oh and I'm really missing Canadian Christmas :(
there are very little Christmas decorations except for at Starbucks.
No Santa, No Egg Nog, No Christmas Trees, No Christmas Music, No Christmas lights...but most depressingly NO family and friends
I really wish Korea was a little bit more christmasy...